Surely this is not the way to get started. News over the Christmas holiday weekend that the e government has already made up its mind not to hold a referendum on their ultimate proposal for electoral reform in Canada leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Surely to tell Canadians that, despite previous Canadian precedents, such a fundamental democratic reform as electoral reform should not have their direct approval, and to do so even before the substance is laid out and the debate begun, is getting the process off on the wrong foot.